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Question

Blue Snowball stopped working after Windows 10 update

by May 2, 2018 4:13PM PDT

I recently had a small Windows 10 update. I was watching YouTube videos and than started talking to some of my friends on discord. I than restarted my computer a bit later to finish the update for windows. I log back in and joined the discord and nothing. My mic was recognized by windows but not playing any sound through it at all. I went to device manager to try to update and than restart, didn't work. Than did a lot more troubleshooting that I found that was helping other people out. Nothing to crazy though either.

Also, my mic does works. I know because when I go to setting and than try to "listen to this device" I can hear myself.

Please help

Discussion is locked

8 Posts
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Answer
A few things.
by Forum moderator May 2, 2018 4:18PM PDT

1. Stop using Microsoft's update driver. It can create troubles and here I wish it came with more warnings.

2. The fact you can hear yourself means to me it's unlikely to be a driver issue.

3. After this update a lot of reports that settings revert to stock or Microsoft's idea of what they should be. This means a lot of trouble for folk to fish around settings in controls and apps.

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Same Issue...
by dkeck13 May 18, 2018 5:58PM PDT

Same microphone. Same situation. (Can even hear my mic on "listen" mode). Anyone out there have any actually helpful info?

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I wish there were specific help for this one.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator May 18, 2018 6:24PM PDT

But after working mic issues on a dozen PCs I had found a dozen different trips through control boxes.

This is what's wrong with our PC's today. Not standardized in areas like this. This means folk get upset when you don't know exactly where the settings are.

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Why, Windows..?
by carterlikespie Jun 2, 2018 2:59PM PDT

I've spent that last 20 minutes trying to fix this, and nothing. Tried restarting, uninstalling, pretty much everything. Please reply to my post if you find anything on how to fix this! Thank you!

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When I see this
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 2, 2018 4:13PM PDT

I'm back to testing on another PC to be sure I'm not chasing a ghost issue.

But as I alluded to in my replies I an not happy that I can take a dozen PCs with this issue and could encounter a dozen different paths to the controls and various controls. This means you have to really dig into your machine as I can't do this for you.

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No Guarantees, But Running Chkdsk Has Helped Some
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Jun 2, 2018 4:34PM PDT

It seems as though the Windows 10 "upgrade" process may not install all the files correctly, or maybe they're damaged, or maybe something else, but running Chkdsk has fixed quite a few of these minor glitches. Try running Chkdsk in "repair" mode to find any damaged files and correct them. Start by opening a command prompt as an admin. RIGHT click on the Start button, choose "Command Prompt (Admin). (Or type "Command" in the search line, then RIGHT click on the "Command Prompt" listing at the top, choose "Run as admin".) Once there, type chkdsk /f /r /x, leaving the appropriate spaces between the letters as shown, then press the Enter key. You should see a note that it can't be run till a restart is done, type "Y" for yes, then press the Enter key again. Close the command prompt and restart the computer. Chkdsk will run upon restart and will take quite a while to finish.. Don't panic when the progress bar stays at 10% for a long time. It's fairly normal and the Chkdsk process may take a couple of hours.

When it's finished, it will boot to your normal startup/lock screen and you can login normally and then see if things are working correctly again.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Answer
I think I fixed it!
by Jun 14, 2018 4:03PM PDT

I was just having this same issue, where it stopped working after the recent update. It would be recognized immediately by Windows as a microphone, but wouldn't pick up sound unless I checked "listen to this device" in the properties.

So, to fix it... type "Privacy Settings" into your start menu, look at the left menu in the window and click on "Microphone," and check the switch that says "Allow apps to access your microphone" to "On." Then you can scroll down and individually check which programs can use it. It worked in Skype for me after that.

I can't beleive that this setting isn't picked up by the troubleshooter. Really? The fact that microphones are literally disabled across the board isn't worth noting when the troubleshooter runs?

A lot of new Microsoft things are really starting to piss me off. I also dislike how, with the new update, they changed the sound settings menu that you get when you right click on the speaker icon in the dashboard. It looks all different, has less functionality... and the original is still there behind it, you can click a link at the bottom and the original will show up. What's the point of changing little **** like this if you're just going to have both options, and it's just going to require more steps to use?

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THANK YOU
by Refinnej_822 Dec 9, 2018 11:10PM PST

You are my hero today! I have been working on this issue ALL DAY after not using my desktop or blue mic for a couple years after installing Windows 10. AGREED about Microsoft pissing a person off!!! Thanks again!

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